ROUNDUPS
In the papers 4 April
04-04-2005
by Ralph Averbuch
NTL bidding enters final phase | MCI resumes merger talks with Qwest
The Irish Independent reports on HMV Ireland's pre-tax profits. Despite the fears of illegal downloads, HMV Ireland reported pre-tax profits of EUR8.2 million in the year ended April 2004, compared with EUR7.7 million in 2003. The paper reports that the Irish music industry was worth EUR115 million in 2003.
The Irish Times reports that the bid for NTL Ireland enters its final phase this week with the company's corporate advisers, Goldman Sachs, telling European cable firm UGC and a rival bid fronted by Irish cable veteran John Riordan that they are ahead of two other bids from the Irish media firm Setanta Sports and from Denis O'Brien, the telecoms entrepreneur. The paper says the secondary bidders are unlikely to be in the running unless problems with the other bids emerge during the final stage of negotiations.
The Financial Times reports that Telecom Italia has concluded the sale of its Greek mobile operations as it seeks to restructure its operations. The company says it will sell its 81 percent stake in TIM Hellas for EUR1.1 billion to Apax Partners and Texas Pacific Group, two private equity groups. TIM Hellas has 2.3 million mobile customers. Telecom Italia is Italy's dominant telecoms company.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the US music industry has taken up a further round of litigation against seven people, accusing them of illegal downloads of songs and recordings on the internet. The defendants are believed to use peer-to-peer file sharing programs including Morpheus, Kazaa, Gnutella, eDonkey and Grokster, allowing the exchange of music files. Thus far the music industry in the US has taken action against more than 9,000 people.
The same paper sayss that MCI has resumed merger talks with Qwest Communications following Qwest's latest proposal to grab the long-distance phone carrier from Verizon Communications. The move comes after Qwest upped its bid for MCI to USD8.9 billion and set a deadline for MCI's board to accept the offer. MCI agreed earlier last week to be acquired by Verizon in a cash-and-stock deal worth around USD7.5 billion.
The Guardian reports on the UK government's launch for a STG10 million competition to create a city of e-technology, which it hopes will encourage cities and local councils to transform the delivery of public services. The government hopes the contest will bring forward new ideas from councils, which will be tested by the winning area. "We all the know the shape of the hill we have got to climb, but we do not yet know what the view will be from the top of the hill," one government source told the paper.
The Sunday Business Post says that Eircom is in advanced talks to buy mobile operator Meteor for up to EUR308 million, a price at the lower end of expectations. The talks between Eircom and Western Wireless, Meteor's parent company, are believed to have reached a crunch stage, with a significant gap in valuations existing between the two sides. A spokesman for Eircom said the company had no comment to make.
The paper also reports that a new e-mail worm called Ahker-F is using the names of stars to tempt people to open infected e-mails. The e-mails, which have a zip file as an attachment, contain text such as "Watch Angelina on Tape". They also refer to stars such Brad Pitt and Britney Spears.
The same paper says that Dublin software firm Cinario is set to make a profit this year after winning two deals worth EUR3 million in the past two months, according to Chief Executive Charlie Sherlock. He said the deals were with two major UK high-street retailers and would see Cinario roll out its security software and infrastructure to more than 100 outlets throughout Britain.
The paper also reports that a dispute over wireless broadband rights has erupted at Dublin Airport. The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) has refused to allow wireless internet provider Bitbuzz to install Wi-Fi hotspots in three of the airport's bars and business lounges. The DAA refused Bitbuzz a work permit to carry out the necessary installations. The refusal is due to a contract signed by the airport with Eircom to provide exclusive wireless internet access throughout public areas of the airport.
The same paper reports that web services technology firm PolarLake made a loss of EUR1.27 million for its last financial year and closed the period with a retained deficit of almost EUR2.6 million. PolarLake chief Ronan Bradley said that the company's accounts were similar "to any early stage technology company", and that he was confident the company would be profitable when it increased its revenue line.
The Sunday Tribune reports that banking software firm CR2 is close to finalising a funding round of almost EUR10 million. The round is led by Trinity Venture Capital. It is understood that ACT Venture Capital is also re-investing in CR2.
The same paper says that Conduit is to spend more than EUR14 million on the re-launch of its directory enquiries services number in the UK. The Dublin-based company has appointed a new London advertising agency to lead the campaign.
The Sunday Times reports that Smart Telecom says it has signed up 20,000 broadband customers in the eight weeks since it launched its broadband product. Smart chief Oisin Fanning predicts that this figure will more than double by the end of the year.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 